


We'll write our names (in blood and glory)

by MYuzuki



Series: No matter what’s in front of me (I’ll keep fighting til I’ve won) [51]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fun with other perspectives!, Gen, I got to thinking about the Kingsglaive rumor mill, Original Character(s), POV Outsider, and I couldn't resist writing a drabble about it haha, and how things must be for some of the newer Glaive recruits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:55:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27657817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MYuzuki/pseuds/MYuzuki
Summary: Astrid Vale has only been a member of the Kingsglaive for a week, but she's already starting to question if signing up for the King's elite fighting force had been a mistake.
Series: No matter what’s in front of me (I’ll keep fighting til I’ve won) [51]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1897525
Comments: 10
Kudos: 83





	We'll write our names (in blood and glory)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everyone! Hope you're all doing well! Thank you as always for all of your support and well wishes! You guys really are the best readers I could ever ask for. :D
> 
> Anyway, life is still busy but I am hanging in there and even enjoying myself when it comes to certain things. I don't remember if I've already mentioned it or not, but I get to do a project on carnivorous plants for my botany class, which is just awesome! I also signed up for NaNoWriMo, which was -in hindsight- a tactical error on my part, lol. I pretty much bit the dust like a week into the month because I just do not have the time and/or mental energy to churn out a novel in between work and school and chores and fic stuff (plus side, I did at least *start* yet another original story so there's that, haha).
> 
> In any case, welcome to Drabble # 51! In which we have the POV of a random Kingsglaive recruit, so we can have some (hopefully entertaining?) outside perspective on a couple things. ;D

**We'll write our names (in blood and glory)**

* * *

Astrid Vale has only been a member of the Kingsglaive for a week, but she's already starting to question if signing up for the King's elite fighting force had been a mistake.

Because she want to fight for her kingdom and her countrymen, she _does_. She's wanted nothing else since a battalion of Imperial troopers had ravaged her village six weeks ago and left nothing but smoldering cinders and broken lives in their wake.

But the longer she's here the more she feels like she just doesn't fit.

Because while her battle magic is pretty good (above average, according to the assessment she'd taken at the start of all this), every time she warps it feels like she's about to puke up her spleen from the vertigo, which is no good _at all_ , not if she wants to be a front-line fighter the way she's been dreaming of.

And more than that, she's having trouble connecting with her peers, her social awkwardness manifesting so frequently that she doesn't think she's managed more than a handful of conversations without stammering.

And she _knows_ that's a problem, because the Kingsglaive is a tight-knit group; every training session she's had so far has stressed the importance of teamwork and cooperation and loyalty o each other. So she needs to be able to connect with her fellow Glaives or she's screwed.

And honestly, she probably is screwed and just too stubborn to admit it. Because she's a lot of things, but a social butterfly isn't one of those things; she's always been a little too introverted, a little too awkward to comfortably fit in amongst her peers most of the time.

Because of that, it's probably only a matter of time before she washes out. But dammit, she _wants_ to stay here, _wants_ to be a Glaive. Wants to avenge the dead of her village and make her family proud.

"You're making your depressed face again," someone say suddenly from behind her and she jumps about two feet in the air out of surprise, giving a startled yelp as she spins around with her heart in her throat.

"Gods-be-damned, Camila," she laments, pulse racing as the other trainee grins at her with mischief in her eyes. "You scared me half to death!"

"Aw, I'm sorry," Camila tells her, looking genuinely contrite for all of twenty seconds before she sidles up alongside Astrid and loops their arms together like they've known each all their lives rather than just seven days. "Come on," she says next, "let's head to the mess hall for lunch."

"But I wanted to p-practice some more," Astrid protests, gesturing to the throwing knives she's been flinging at the targets for the past hour in an attempt to improve her aim.

"You've been at it for ages, Astrid; learn to take breaks every once in a while, okay?" Camila tugs on her arm again. "Come on, let's get going. Those targets will still be there once we've eaten, y'know?"

Astrid grumbles a bit more but ultimately caves and let's Camila drag her out of the training room she'd been sequestered in and usher her down the hall towards the cafeteria.

Camila is, to Astrid's immense and undying gratitude, the one other trainee in their group of thirty new recruits who has never seemed put off by Astrid's truly epic social ineptitude.

(In Astrid's own defense, it's perhaps not that she's innately terrible at talking to people, but simply the fact that she's _unused_ to it; working on her family's farm since the tender age of seven until her current age of eighteen had left her little time to socialize, and as such most conversations had been with her parents, brothers, or the chocobo they used to pull the plow).

Camila is bright, cheerful, and ceaselessly kind (unintended jump scares notwithstanding), and she'd latched onto Astrid on their very first day in the Glaive and hasn't let go since. Hasn't _given up_ on her since, despite the fact that she seems to be one of the only ones to still think Astrid can make it as a member of the Kingsglaive; plenty of the other recruits in their group seem to be taking bets on when Astrid will give up and go home.

(The punchline to that particular situation is that she isn't going to give up. She might not make it as a Glaive, sure, but it damn well won't be because she _quits_.

She might get kicked out for how much she sucks, for not being able to warp without nausea and for not being able to maintain a magical barrier for longer than twenty seconds, but she refuses to give up.

She has a promise to keep, after all, to her family and her village and everyone else who's fallen victim to the Empire's lust for power and control.)

Camila is, basically, the closest thing Astrid has to friend right now, and while she doesn't understand why the other young woman seems to actually _enjoy_ her awkward company she certainly isn't going to complain.

In any case, they wind up in the mess hall, grabbing lunch trays and piling them high with food before settling down at a table with a handful of other recruits who are likewise engaged in replenishing all the calories they've been burning during training.

"Hey, guys," Camila chirps cheerfully as she plops her tray down and pats the seat beside her in clear invitation so that Astrid has no excuse to scuttle off in an attempt to avoid awkward lunch interactions with her peers.

"Hi, Camila," one of the guys (Lukas, Astrid thinks his name is) says, offering up a tired but sincere smile. "Hi, Astrid," he tacks on after a slight pause, as if just noticing her presence.

"Uh, hi," she mumbles, then when Camila gently elbows her in the side, "H-how are you?"

"Tired," Lukas says wryly. "I had hand-to-hand combat drills with Lieutenant Ostium this morning," he goes on. "I feel like I was trampled by a herd of garula."

Astrid gives a sympathetic wince because, yeah, that sounds exhausting. She's only had one training session with Libertus Ostium so far, but she'd been drop-dead tired the next day (albeit with much better reflexes when it came to close quarters fighting).

"At least he's not Lieutenant Altius," Camila puts in, "throwing fireballs at our faces to test how strong our barriers shields are. Or having us summon up lightning storms to build our magical stamina!"

"I like her tr-training sessions," Astrid protests, because those magic-focused session with Crowe Altius (who is widely held to be the best mage in the entire Kingsglaive) are one of the few times she feels comfortable in her skin and confident in her choice to become a Glaive.

(Because try as she might, she's never felt that way anywhere else. Not in combat drills with her fellow recruits, not in the strategy classes they all have to sit through, not even back on her family's farm. She's always felt just slightly out of place, never quite fitting in.

But on the Kingsglaive training grounds, with magic singing in her veins and fire dancing at her fingertips? There, she feels at home.)

"You _would_ enjoy those lessons," Camila says, tone fond even as she rolls her eyes. "But not all of us are magical whiz-kids the way you are."

Astrid feels herself blush and ducks her head to stare at the potato salad on her plate. "I'm not _that_ good at magic," she mumbles, embarrassed.

Camila pokes her in the shoulder in a vaguely chastising way. "You are great at it and you should own that fact," she says firmly. "Anyway," she goes, not giving Astrid time to argue before she deftly changes the subject entirely, "I heard that the Commander himself will be stopping by this afternoon's sparring matches."

Astrid fumbles with her fork, sending it clattering across the table, and is only slightly mollified by the fact that Lukas has almost the same exact reaction, knocking over his glass of water as his gapes at Camila.

"No way," Lukas says, sounding torn between anxiety and awe at the thought of their leader (their strong, skilled, heroic, and _royal_ leader) paying them a direct visit. "Commander Ulric, coming to our sparring sessions? That's-"

"Terrifying?" Astrid suggests as she retrieves her fork, because it _is_ ; they all met the Commander back when they first signed on to the Glaive, of course -because he insists on meeting every recruit personally before they swear loyalty to the King- but having him _come to watch your training_ is an _entirely_ different thing and Astrid kind of wants to faint just thinking about it.

"-amazing!" Lukas finishes, ineffectually blotting at his spilled water with a wad of napkins. "Did you know that he fought General Glauca in single combat and _won_? "

"I think that everyone knows that, Lukas," Astrid can't help but say, flashing him a shaky but sincere smile. "I mean, even I heard about it and I lived in the m-middle of nowhere b-before I came here."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he concedes, giving her a surprisingly warm smile back. "But still, isn't that super awesome? He must be crazy strong!"

"Or just crazy," Camila remarks. "I heard someone say he fought a Cerberus by himself, you'd have to be insane to do that! I also heard a rumour that he's dating the Marshall of the Crownsguard," she adds, almost as an afterthought.

Lukas knocks over his water glass again (thankfully, since it's already empty all it does is roll sadly across the table until Astrid hastily snatches it up and moves it some distance away)."What? Dating _Cor the Immortal?_ No way! Who told you that?"

"It would be unprofessional of me to divulge my sources," Camila says primly, then cracks and dissolves into laughter when Astrid wiggles her fingers in a clear threat to start tickling if she doesn't spill. "Okay, okay, take it easy!" she says, giggling as she bats at Astrid's hands. "I heard it from a couple different people. And, I mean, it kind of makes sense, doesn't it?"

"They do spend a lot of time together," Lukas acknowledges, clearly thinking of how often the Marshall of the Crownsguard visits the Kingsglaive headquarters.

"Right?" Camila says, tone triumphant. "They're _totally_ dating!"

"Totally," Lukas echoes, nodding.

Astrid, meanwhile, rolls her eyes at them. "You're both being ridiculous," she informs them, chuckling a little despite herself. "Besides, what does it m-matter if he's dating Marshall Leonis?"

Camila makes an indignant sound, looking deeply wounded. "It matters," she insists.

"It really doesn't," Astrid returns, amused. "He's our commanding officer, his p-personal life isn't any of our business."

"But aren't you _curious_ ," Camila wheedles plaintively, eyes wide and pleading.

"Not even a little," Astrid lies. "Now shush and eat your coleslaw."

Camila sticks her tongue out while Lukas coughs in an attempt to hide his sudden bout of laughter, and Astrid realizes that there's a warm feeling in her chest, chasing away the stress and worry that's been dragging her down all morning.

 _Maybe I can fit in here after all_ , she thinks, and smiles at her friends.


End file.
